Indian Railways Research Articles

Static analysis of box-girder bridge under the influence of Indian railway vehicle loading using ANSYS finite element model

The box-girder bridge has recently gained a lot of popularity because of its serviceability, stability, and structural efficiency. The box-girder bridge also has a lower structural weight than any other type of bridge. However, the analysis of such a bridge is too complex and challenging for the designers. This paper offers a modelling process for the study of a box- girder bridge with a ballastless sub-track system using the finite element method and evaluates the different static response characteristics of the bridge when it is loaded according to Indian Railway standards. The modelling and the evaluation of the 3D model of the bridge have been done using non-closed form finite element method (FEM) based ANSYS software and loadings have been applied symmetrically and un- symmetrically. Static analysis is carried out. The model has been simulated, and the resultants of deflection and stresses have been determined, taking into account the effect of different combinations of loading from the Indian Railways. The present modelling process is applied to analyze the box-girder bridge for 5 spans of 32 m each. For analysis of any box-girder bridge, though, researchers can use the modelling process described above.

Computational Analysis of the Impact of Yoga on QoL and Body Flexibility

This research paper is an initiative to provide insight into the health and quality of life (QoL) benefits of yoga. The investigation aims to study the ancient therapy for de-stressing occupational stress and improving employees' quality of life by examining the intervention of yoga exercise on physiological health and quality of life (QoL). To find the impact of yoga and light aerobic exercise on the flexibility of the body muscles and quality of life intervention of yoga, light aerobic exercise was conducted on employees of PPS International at Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh), India, a manufacturer of high-tech equipment for Indian railway and metro trains and related industries. After seeking permission for the study from the founder and promoter, the research team randomly selected 120 subjects of age group 35-45 years, all males. To establish the result, a computational analysis of the recorded data was done. The t-test was applied to analyse descriptive statistics, pre-test, post-test, mean scores, and standard deviation of three different groups with N=40 in each group.

Railway Stations Redevelopment Programme under PPP model in India: a Study of Consumer Perception towards Proposed Facilities

Public sector transport, especially Railways, solves an important mobility issue for people in India due to its long stretched network and potential to cater to every individual. Funding constraints, however, make it difficult to achieve service level and offerings at par with private players. Potential of Indian Railways has been underutilized for ages due to a lack of initiatives and a tight budget. PPP worldwide has set examples towards progressiveness of public assets. India has now proceeded on similar lines by launching world’s biggest transit-oriented development in public transport sector through Indian Railways. Railway Station Redevelopment program incorporating PPP model is believed to keep customer value at center. Main purpose of this study aims at analyzing which factors under this new Government initiative will play an important role in enhancing satisfaction level and experience of consumers after transformation and an attempt to fill research gap on perception of existing customers of Indian Railways on new offerings against what they are used to experiencing has been made. Exploratory factor analysis using a survey method on 250 respondents has been used to achieve results.

Classifying Indian Railway Passenger Stations Using a Multi-criteria Framework

Classifying Indian Railway Passenger Stations Using a Multi-criteria Framework

Prototype Model for Waste Management in Running Trains ofIndia

Indian Railways is the largest public sector undertaking in India but suffers from a major problem of inefficient waste management system. This is a problem of dry and wet waste generated inside the running train and around the railway tracks resulting in unhygienic trains and unclean railway tracks. Everyday nearly 23 million people travel in 7000 passengers trains inIndia. The area around the railway track in India is about 16000 kms which has never been cleaned. It is estimated that approximately 6289 tons of plastic finds its way into India’s railway tracks every day. This enormous generation of waste is leading to undesirable health issues besides environmental pollution. In this backdrop, in this project a prototype technological modelis being developed which can help to solve this problem. A smart dustbin is placed in each compartment of all the bogies in a train wherein both the dry and wet waste are collected, segregated and crushed. With the help of the belt conveyor, this crushed dry and wet waste is carried from all the compartments and bogies to the centralized bin of the train. This technological prototype model facilitates to manage the enormous dry and wet waste generated inside the running train effectively and efficiently. This will benefit the recycling industries to generate the revenue besides helping to keep the trains and railway tracks clean.

Braithwaite – in search of a sustainable turnaround

Learning outcomes The learning outcomes of this study are as follows: ■ understand organizational turnaround and its sustainability;■ applying the understanding of turnarounds to distinguish between operational and strategic levers of a turnaround strategy; ■ analyze and evaluate past and present turnarounds from a sustainability perspective; and ■ formulate managerial actions to make turnaround sustainable. Case overview/synopsis Braithwaite Company Ltd. (Braithwaite) was a specialized engineering firm headquartered in Kolkatta, India. It primarily undertook structural steel fabrication to make railway wagons and bridge structures. It was incorporated as a private enterprise almost a century back. However, since its nationalization five decades ago, it has been operating as a public sector undertaking (PSU) under the aegis of Indian Railways, a department of the Government of India. The case documents the past three decades of the firm’s journey, during which it experienced three episodic turnarounds. Details of the first two turnarounds are presented as the background, in light of which sustainability of the third turnaround is to be examined. The case explores the sustainability of organizational turnarounds from the perspective of the current Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), the case protagonist. Braithwaite underwent financial and operational distress in 1992, 2005 and 2015 and negotiated them under different leaders. These leaders from diverse backgrounds used distinct tactics and strategies to bring about organizational turnarounds. The case provides data and information to assess the sustainability of the third turnaround. Hence, it allows a class to explore the paradoxical observation that while “turnaround” inherently implies sustenance of good performance over time, turnaround sustainability is not spontaneous in the real world. The case deals with the performance issues of PSUs, which make significant contributions to the national economy in the case of emerging economies (for example, 5%–8% of the Indian National gross domestic product is contributed by PSUs; https://swarajyamag.com/ideas/psus-are-crucial-for-indias-growth-but-only-if-they-play-a-strategic-role). Under government ownership and management, the poor performance of PSUs is often attributed to bad decision-making by its top management. In contrast, Braithwaite’s top management’s sound contextual decision-making resulted in a jump in its performance during each turnaround phase, but unsound fundamentals resulted in the unsustainability of the turnarounds. Hence, the case enables an exploration of the unique challenges faced by PSU that emanate from legacy roles, monopolistic markets and dual purpose – the concurrent pursuit of profits and social welfare. Consequently, the case allows an examination of the reasons for the distress of PSUs and the viability of turnaround strategies in the context of the broader Business–Government–Society landscape in emerging economies. Complexity academic level The case is written for use in the MBA elective course covering “Strategic Revival and Turnaround Strategies.” It can be used at the beginning of the course to identify reasons for organizational failure/distress or in the later part of the course to discuss the implementation of operational and strategic turnaround strategies. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 10: Public Sector Management.

Analysis of Lateral Stability and Ride of an Indian Railway Constrained Dual-Axle Bogie Frame

Analysis of Lateral Stability and Ride of an Indian Railway Constrained Dual-Axle Bogie Frame

On the application of UPV in health monitoring of Indian Rail section using AE Technique

The health monitoring of rail sections from the perspective of safety is a significant field of research in the context of the Indian Railway, which is thought to be Asia's second-largest rail network. The main focus of health monitoring is to assess damages and determine their location in order to initiate the appropriate measures. One of the well-known Non-Destructive Techniques (NDTs), the Acoustic Emission (AE) technique can be used for this purpose. However, the literature suggests that the appropriate localization of damage, which is in fact AE source, is challenging due to the complex geometry of the rail section. Continuous research going on in this direction and the pencil lead break (PLB) method often serves the purpose of simulated AE source in the experimental investigation of these research works. There are a few limitations present in the PLB method due to its manual operation. In the practical scenario, PLB requires expertise to operate perfectly. Moreover, the complexity of the application of PLB is increased in case of uneven surfaces. In this context, PLB can be replaced by an Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV) instrument. UPV instrument produces an ultrasonic signal which is very similar to PLB. In this study, an effort is paid to detect and localize the simulated AE sources produced by a UPV instrument in the Indian rail section under laboratory conditions using AE technique. The localisation of such simulated AE sources is done using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) based methodology. The ANN model is developed using the basic parameters of the AE signal. Further, a set of PLB sources are also applied to the rail section and localization of these sources is also done. Localisation results of both simulated AE sources, PLBs and UPVgenerated ones, are compared. It is found that the localization using ANN of the simulated AE source is done with a minimal error of 1.3%. The technique is promising and there is a good scope for future research and application in health monitoring of different types of structures.

India Post: its 21st-century avatar

Learning outcomes The case has the following learning objectives: to assess the importance of the business environment, its impact on the organization and how the organization responds to the changes in the business environment; to apply the resource-based view of the organization and resource dependence theory; and to apply and analyze the organization’s strategic initiatives within the framework of the political, economic, social and technological analysis model, Porter’s five forces of business analysis and to make recommendations based on the above analysis. Case overview/synopsis The paradigm shift in technology has an impact on business. With 155,015 Post Offices, India Post has the most widely distributed postal network in the world. This case captures the journey of India Post from inception to its current form. Over its life, the organization has evolved because of multiple changes. But the recent changes have threatened to disrupt the organization. These changes have been induced by three major forces: technology, the rise of competition, especially foreign players, and social changes in urban and rural India because of changing consumption patterns as incomes rise and online retail grows. The organization has reacted to this threat by leveraging its resources to offer new products according to customer tastes by entering more unique industries and product categories. They have started logistics services in association with Indian railways and started offering retail services such as bill collection and college application forms. Also, they have created a financial division, “Payment Bank.” Thus, they have evolved from being a single entity of postal-related services to various services. The case poses a dilemma if these product diversifications are thriving as the organization’s product portfolio has diversified, given its existing capabilities and ability to create newer capabilities, particularly the payment bank. Complexity academic level The case is ideally suited for the discussion of resource-based view of the firm in the subject strategic management and organizational theory. The case can be used to discuss resource dependence theory as well. It is equally well suited to discuss the impact of environment in business in the subject organization theory and the impact of technology on change in the subject organizational change. The case is meant for MBA. The case can be used for executive audience as well. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

Journey towards World Class Stations: An Assessment of Platform Amenities at Allahabad Junction

Passengers spend considerable time on railway platforms using amenities thereon; thus, making their stay pleasurable would result in passenger satisfaction for a rail journey. The Ministry of Railways in India has initiated plans for developing stations of world-class standards by delivering state-of-the-art facilities and quality services at platforms. This paper is an attempt to assess levels of importance and satisfaction perceived by passengers with respect to amenities on platforms of Allahabad Junction in the State of Uttar Pradesh, India. A total of 32 platform amenities examined through a sample of 1,248 passengers were grouped under 7 factors using Exploratory Factor Analysis. A service quality performance matrix was prepared thereafter to identify amenities needing improvement, and a Customer Satisfaction Index was calculated to determine a priority order for improvement of these amenities. Security and cleanliness were revealed to be the aspects that need improvement. Findings of this study are expected to be useful for policymakers working on the concept of world-class stations.

Determinants of Customer Satisfaction on Service Quality: A Study of Railway Platforms in India

Service quality has been viewed as a determinant of customer satisfaction. Different dimensions of service quality have been considered by various researchers. This study identifies components of service quality of Indian Railways at railway platforms. The study is exploratory in nature and uses factor analysis to identify the most important factors of customer satisfaction with service quality. The research methodology is empirical, and a survey of passengers (customers) was conducted. The findings reveal that five factors are considered important for determining satisfaction with railway platforms, the most important of which are refreshments and behavioral factors. Managerial and theoretical implications are drawn and discussed in the paper, and a model is proposed.

Examining the Effect of COVID-19 on rail freight volume and revenue using the ARIMA forecasting model and assessing the resilience of Indian railways during the pandemic

India implemented a nationwide lockdown on 22 March 2020 to prevent Coronavirus (COVID-19) from spreading throughout the nation. Only the most critical services were running during this period. As a result of the pandemic, several organizations, including the travel industry, put a moratorium in place. This included the Indian Railways. In spite of the lockdown, the freight services were operational and carrying out essential duties, but the volume of freight and revenue generated was adversely affected. Railways contribute around 1% to the overall GDP of India and a significant part of India's economy is freight transport by rail. This necessitates an analysis of rail freight volume and corresponding revenue loss due to COVID-19. The present study is an attempt to estimate these losses. Based on the monthly historical data the present study employed the ARIMA forecasting model to develop a scenario and measure freight volume without COVID-19. Under the first scenario, month-wise actual historical freight volumes were considered for the period from April 2012 to November 2021. On the other hand, in the second scenario, the monthly historical data from April 2012 to March 2020 and from October 2020 to November 2021 were used as-is, while from April 2020 to September 2020, ARIMA modelling was used to forecast freight volume without the effect of COVID-19, since the first lockdown occurred in the latter days of March 2020. Further, in order to predict revenue loss, we developed a linear regression model based on the temporal data (April 2012–November 2021) for freight volume and revenue generated by Indian Railways. Based on the ARIMA modelling, the total loss of freight volume and revenue was estimated at 149.08 million tonnes and INR 16712.68 crores, respectively. Furthermore, the present study also discusses the resilience shown by the Indian railways during the outbreak of COVID-19.

Influence of Biaxial Geogrid at the Ballast Interface for Granular Earth Railway Embankment

The development of reinforcements for soil has made an impact in most of the civil engineering sectors especially transportation. The use of geogrids is frequent in roadways but they are also finding use in railways. The major impact that geogrids could have is providing desired stiffness to a section by reducing material and serving as a proper reinforcement material. In the current study, an attempt has been made to redesign the railway embankment economically with the help of geogrids. Biaxial geogrid is used to substitute the blanket layer (thickness up to 100 cm) in the railway embankment by fulfilling the strain modulus requirement of the embankment, calculated using a plate bearing test as per DIN 18134. The experiment is performed on the embankment replicated in a metallic test chamber with granular soil as subgrade and geogrid is placed beneath the ballast. The experimental study is validated by a 3-D numerical model using Midas GTS NX software. The experimental analysis shows an improvement of 31.47% in the second modulus of the earth embankment. For the implementation of this study, a design section of Indian railways is adopted. With the help of geogrid, a reduction of 50% is observed in the embankment height, thereby reducing the overall costs.

Sustainable performance assessment of rail freight transportation using triple bottom line approach: An application to Indian Railways

Freight transportation provides a significant contribution to the growth of national economies. The uncontrollable greenhouse gas emissions have caught the attention of governments worldwide to achieve sustainability in freight transportation. This research aims to assess the performance of sustainable rail freight transportation (SRFT) using twelve sustainability indicators. We employed the proposed triple bottom line framework for SRFT performance evaluation of Indian Railways (IR). We applied content analysis for data collection from IR's annual reports, yearbooks, and annual statistical statements between the financial year 2007–08 and 2020–21. Sustainability assessment results revealed that IR delivered impressive environmental and social performances, while economic indicators reported mixed results. IR performed better in energy efficiency, emission factor, mean load factor, average unit cost, net tonne-km per wagon per day, accident rate, and average annual wage per employee. IR delivered poor results in land usage, freight market share, the average speed of freight trains, and employment generated during the assessment period. A sustainable performance comparison between rail and road freight transport revealed that IR needs to revamp freight transportation policies to increase its market share against road transport. An intermodal railroad should be the preferred mode of freight transport. The proposed comprehensive framework can be used as a benchmarking tool to compare the SRFT performance of emerging economies. The article concluded with managerial recommendations to facilitate policymakers in decisions regarding SRFT.

Social distancing and revenue management—A post-pandemic adaptation for railways

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had a significant impact on rail operations worldwide. Adopting control measures such as a 50% occupancy rate can contribute to a safer travel environment, though at the expense of operational efficiency. This paper addresses the issues of social distancing and revenue maximization for a train operating company in a post-pandemic world. Although the two objectives appear to be highly contradictory, we believe that judicious planning can optimize both to a great extent. Existing research on social distancing on public transport has only considered the risk of virus transmission during travel. This is the first attempt to recognize the risk of virus spread in different cities along with transmission risk as part of developing a social distancing plan. We study the problem of assigning seats to passenger groups on long-distance trains while ensuring social distancing within coaches. A novel seating assignment policy is proposed that takes into account several factors that govern the spread of virus. In an effort to reduce the spread of the virus and improve revenue simultaneously, a mixed-integer programming (MIP) model is proposed to assign seats to passengers. Several families of valid inequalities and preprocessing steps are proposed to strengthen the MIP formulation, which represents a substantial contribution to the literature on group seat assignment problem. The validity of the model and the effectiveness of the valid inequalities have been evaluated using real-life data from Indian Railways. The computational results demonstrate a significant reduction in the risk of contagion and an increase in seat utilization compared to the current approach employed by operators.

Preventive track maintenance model using fuzzy weight convolution neural network for metro rail system

In India, Rail mode of transport serves as frequently preferrable transit systems operating with the optimal cost. Typically, the Indian Railways transport thousands of people on a day-to-day basis in addition to transporting large consignment of goods. Therefore, it is important for the trains to ensure that they run on quality tracks. At times, these tracks are challenged by the friction generated by continuous passage of trains in addition to over corrosions that occur due to their environmental imbalance. Preventive Track Maintenances (PTMs) have been recently introduced by railways for enhancing the quality of railway tracks, but on the contrary, it was failed to focus on the actual needs or emergencies of railway tracks. Moreover, none of the existing methods have been tested with real time datasets. Specifically, holding only two class labels are being considered resulting in the reduction of classification performances. But the major challenging task is that the real-time datasets fall under the category of multi-variant data. Hence, this study aims to provide a Decision Support System (DSS) that predicts the Railway Track Quality (RTQ) from the real time datasets available on the track inspection data of the Indian metro rail system. The proposed research uses clustering and classification processes for achieving Predictive Track maintenance (PTM). Furthermore, the proposed method of RPTMs includes five steps namely data collection, data transformations, clustering of data, preventive maintenances, and evaluations. The undertaken datasets are transformed into numeric formats for the creation of clusters using Kernel Mean Weight Fuzzy Local Information C Means (KMWFLICMs). The resultant clusters from the data have five major types of clusters such as Normal, Low risks, Medium, High, and Emergency Risks based on the parameters of gauge, cross level attributes, turnouts and versine of mainline. From the inferred cluster results, the dataset was further classified to choose maintenance status from four major classes namely No Actions, Fixed Maintenances, Investigate Maintenances, and Emergency Maintenance pertinent to the outcomes of FWCNNs (Fuzzy Weight Convolution Neural Networks). The proposed system was experimented on MATLAB and evaluated against various machine learning approaches. Therefore, the obtained statistical results confirmed that the proposed FWCNN model had afforded higher accuracy in predicting the maintenance interventions based on relevant risk category.

Modeling of career entry barriers for women in male dominated occupations: A case of Indian railways

PurposeThis study aims to identify, prioritize and establish the relationship among the set of career entry barriers of women employed in the male dominated occupations. It addresses the following research questions: What are the key barriers that restrict the career entry of women in male dominated occupations? Which are the most significant barriers and how these barriers are related to each-other? MethodologyA literature review method was used to identify the career entry barriers that was further validated through semi-structured interviews of women employed in the Indian railways. The interpretive structural modeling (ISM) method was used to establish a hierarchical relationship among the set of identified barriers. The Matrice d'Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement (MICMAC) analysis was administered to classify the barriers based on their driving and dependence power. FindingsA set of eleven career entry barriers are found crucial for restricting women's career entry in the male dominated occupations. Three barriers namely ‘social norms’, ‘organizational policies and procedures’ and ‘job description’ emerged as the most influential barriers. Therefore, any action performed on these barriers can have a multiplier effect on the remaining barriers identified in this study. The ISM model helped in asserting the inter-linkage among the career entry barriers that dampen the participation and attractiveness among women to enter such occupations. Practical implicationsThe proposed ISM model for interaction and ranking of barriers can provide the academicians, practitioners, and policymakers a more realistic representation of the reasons for the negligible ratio of women in the male dominated occupations. Gender and discrimination theories can validate the findings of this study using case study method. The findings will be beneficial as it promotes more studies of similar nature in other divisions of Indian Railways as well as in the developing countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and other South Asian countries to find the commonality and differences. Practitioners can use ISM model and MICMAC analysis to better understand women's career entry barriers and explore as where to channelize their efforts and resources towards change in the organizational structure, system, and processes to facilitate women's ratio in the male dominated occupations. OriginalityA key contribution of this study is the development of a contextual relationship among identified set of career entry barriers. As per the researchers' knowledge, this study is one of the first attempts to provide a hierarchical relationship among the career entry barriers from the world's fourth-largest railway network context (Ministry of Railways, 2021).

An internet of things-enabled decision support system for freight transportation: A case study of Indian special freight transport operator

Railway organizations are spending on digitizing rail freight transportation for better resource utilization and revenue generation. In 2010, the Indian Railway (IR) proposed a “Special Freight Train Operator” scheme to build an IR stake in freight transportation in high-capacity rakes. IR allowed freight train operators (FTOs) and manufacturers to invest in wagons and take benefit of the largest rail network to move selected goods to their end customers. In the absence of an optimized support system, FTOs are often confronted with the decision of rolling stock (rake) scheduling, rake assignment, and rescheduling on a real-time basis. Today, most of the rakes have GPS devices. Thus, railway train management systems readily provide data to create a dynamic optimization model for FTOs using IoT-based real-time information. We first formulate a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model that aims at revenue maximization incorporating optimal rake assignment and optimal rake scheduling. Furthermore, to incorporate real-time GPS data, we propose an “IoT enabled real-time rake schedular-reschedular heuristic” for rescheduling. The computational investigations exhibit that the proposed heuristic performs effectively both in terms of run time and the quality of the solution. These models will help FTOs smoothly run day-to-day businesses and lead to better revenue realization in the calendar month by increasing the number of trips.

Gauge widening failures of wagon wheels in Indian Railways: Finite element modeling and observed statistics

There were many gauge widening cases identified in wagon wheels of Indian Railways during the past decade, but no investigation was conducted to analyse the failures. The present work aims to investigate the main cause of failures in wagon wheels due to gauge widening. A train running model is used to estimate heat generation at wheel and brake block interface. A finite element model is used to estimate temperature and stress state in the wheel during heat treatment, wheel and axle fitment, and braking. Heat partition between brake blocks and wheel is considered for the analysis. Further, heat losses to the environment because of convection and radiation are also incorporated in the model. The wheel gauge reduces during the braking process and the permanent wheel gauge increases during the cooling process. Permanent wheel gauge increases with non-uniformity in braking and a higher frequency of braking.

Probabilistic slope stability analysis of Heavy-haul freight corridor using a hybrid machine learning paradigm

With the rising freight demand, specialized heavy-haul railway corridors allow heavier trains to transport heavy freight, improving productivity and lowering unit costs. Generally, a heavy-haul corridor necessitates a significant investment, thus the risk assessment of a rail-track system must be extensively evaluated during the design phase. From the standpoint of serviceability, this study presents a probabilistic slope stability analysis of heavy-haul freight corridor using an efficient hybrid computational technique. The present approach, i.e., ANN-MPA, is an amalgamation of an artificial neural network (ANN) and marine predators algorithm (MPA). The newly constructed ANN-MPA was used to perform probabilistic analysis of a 12.293 m high embankment of heavy-haul freight corridor of Indian Railways with a design axle load of 32.5 MT. The concept of probability theory and statistics were used to map the soil uncertainties through the first-order second-moment method. The results of the proposed ANN-MPA model were evaluated and compared with other hybrid ANNs constructed with seven distinct swarm intelligence algorithms. In the validation phase, the proposed ANN-MPA outperformed (R2 = 0.9931 and RMSE = 0.0233) other hybrid ANNs and was used to perform probabilistic analysis of a 12.293 m high embankment. The reliability index and the probability of failure were computed under seismic and non-seismic conditions, taking into consideration the influence of uncertainties in soil parameters. Using the proposed approach, the failure probability of the 12.293 m high soil slope under different seismic conditions can be evaluated rationally and efficiently.